Swimming is recognized as one of the best exercises for muscle toning, weight loss, and cardiovascular conditioning. Despite this, swimming is not widely used as a means to exercise. This is because in order to swim one must have access to a pool or another body of water. While gyms and fitness clubs often have pools on the premises, many people either do not have time to regularly attend gym or do not have the financial resources required to belong to such facilities. Additionally, some people do not enjoy getting wet and/or spending the time necessary to fix themselves up after a swimming workout. Thus, a need exists for exercise equipment that can simulate the physical workout achieved during swimming without the associated drawbacks.
Exercise equipment currently exists that allows users to simulate a swimming motion. However, available swimming simulators suffer from a variety of drawbacks. Some swimming simulators are very expensive and mechanically complex. Other swimming simulators are bulky and large in size, making it difficult for a user to store/use the equipment in the comfort of their own home. Still other swimming simulators do not properly simulate the swimming motion and/or supply constant resistance to the user's motion throughout the entire range of a swimming stroke.